Season completed

Recent Games Date vs. Result   03/24 Capital Thunder L 4-0 03/24 Santa Clara Blackhawks W 2-1   03/23 Santa Rosa Flyers L 3-1   03/11 Santa Clara Blackhawks L 4-2   For complete team record, see Record page

Home of the California Cougars Bantam B Team

Weekly game write-ups from Joel Farbstein and Phil Berkowitz, videos from Jim West, and photos by Olga Gary on Picasa are now available.

Click on the icon next to each game result on this page or on the "Record" page for past game write-ups.

Writeup of California Cougars NORCAL Tourney on March 23-24, 2012

The California Cougars were this close to advancing from the Northern California Junior Hockey Association championships to the CAHA State tourney, but came up just short in an exciting weekend of tournament action at the Oakland Ice complex.  The highlight of the tourney was a 2-1 victory over eventual champion Santa Clara Blackhawks, which sent the Cougars into the off-season on a high note.

The Cougars started play in impressive fashion, coming out of the gate strong against the division-leading Santa Rosa Flyers.

Just 2:33 into the opening period of the Cougars first tournament game, with the team on its first powerplay, center Adam Rosenduft's one-timer earned him his 8th goal of the season as he roofed a smooth centering pass from winger Shura Boz, his 7th helper of the year.

With tough defense and 5 hits from Ryan Bockholt, the team went into first intermission with a 1-0 lead.  The Cougars had several chances to extend the lead in the middle frame, as Max Frenkel was denied after an open look, and captain Nash Berkowitz was turned aside in front of the net by the stifling Flyers defense, which allowed only 9 shots on goal the entire game.

After more than 33 minutes of shutout hockey, the Flyers finally managed to solve standout goalie Nick Gary, though it took a powerplay at the 2:38 of the third period to do it.  Gary stopped 18 shots - many of the point-blank variety - and the only other blemish was a 5-hole goal that came after the Flyers went in on a 3-on-1 break.  Pace Farbstein gave the Cougars a powerplay opportunity and a chance to tie when he was taken down hard into the boards, but the team was unable to cash in with the extra skater.  An empty-net goal with 6.3-seconds remaining stretched the final score to 3-1.  Overall, the Cougars fired 9 shots on goal while keeping the Flyers to a season-low 15 shots.

But the Cougars were ready to bounce back in their Saturday matinee against the Santa Clara Blackhawks.  Once again the team started strong, scoring just 1:49 into the game.  Tal Horowitz mucked hard in the corners and forced a loose puck, then fed Farbstein at the near-side post.  Though he was stymied in his first attempt, Farbstein quickly carried the puck around the net for a wraparound that beat the goalie for his 19th tally of the season, giving the Cougars the early 1-0 lead.

Chase Bolling commanded the blueline and dished out 4 hits while skating the puck out of harms way alongside Kyle Tanaka, who followed up his 3-hit first-game effort with agile play on both forward and defensive lines.

Six minutes into the second period the Blackhawks recorded their lone goal, as they set up on a 5-3 with two Cougars in the Sin Bin, and slid home a low stick-side forehand past the goalie's blocker.

But that was the lone defensive lapse, as the Cougars defense stiffened.  Tommy Beebe broke up a number of passes and absorbed several hard checks, while Elliot Salazar's nimble stickwork frustrated the Blackhawk forwards.

Matthew Lydon did well in the faceoff circle, winning 8 draws and finding ample time centering the powerplay unit.

As Coach Rob Tenore predicted, both teams stepped up the pressure in the final frame.  The Cougars pressed the attack and with the excitement building, Rosenduft got the game-winner, and his 9th of the season, when he, well, "slammed home" isn't exactly the appropriate description as the slo-motion puck crept over the goal line at a snail's pace, but it counted the same nonetheless, giving the Cougars the 2-1 lead with just 2:42 to play.

The play developed when smooth-skating John Bohac perfectly threaded a pass, his team-leading 23rd assist of the season, into the slot for the streaking Rosenduft, who was perfectly positioned to deposit the puck past the prone goalie.

Flashy netminder Carson Murison moved side-to-side to deny several late scoring chances, and made a number of acrobatic saves.  Daniel Schmidt made his minutes count, trying to force the action and moving the puck toward the net, while Erik West hustled to frustrate the Blackhawks point men.

Bohac forced one Blackhawk forward to miss a late open net with a nifty defensive move, and Bolling was ever-steady as he made another play to help preserve the victory, and the Cougars were able to avenge a regular season-ending defeat at the hands (claws?) of the Blackhawks.

The Cougars forced the action spent most of the first two games in the offensive zone, which Coach Rob Tenore and Assistant Coach Christian DeJesus was pleased to see.

In a rough and tumble third game that would have sent the Cougars to the CAHA state tourney, the team was unable to generate any good scoring chances, and was thrown off its game by the physical Capital Thunder team and its vocal coach.

The game was closer than the 4-0 score indicated, as the scoreboard read 1-0 after nearly 30 minutes.  One puck deflected off the referee's skate to set up another score late in the second period putting the Cougars in a hole from which they couldn't climb out.  An own-goal with 11-minutes left in the game and a PPG goal with :17.3 left sealed the deal and ended the Cougars season.

The team and fans were flummoxed by some phantom offsides and icing calls but played hard to the end.  Murison and Gary shared goaltender duties and each let in only 2 of 20 shots, as the team was unable to clear its zone by the swarming Thunder offense.

The Cougars were also unable to capitalize on the powerplay in the penalty-filled game, but killed 7 of 8 shorthanded situations, including nearly 1:30 with a 2-man disadvantage.

With Berkowitz winning the majority of faceoffs, Farbstein and Tanaka combined to skate the puck out of their defensive zone several times, but the tough Thunder defense was able to prevent any good looks at the net.

The game ended on a down note due to some aggressive play by the Thunder, but the Cougars were still able to be proud of the hard-fought playoff victory they earned during the weekend at Oakland Ice.

Overall, after the NORCAL tourney Coach Tenore was pleased with the team's improved play and playoff win, though he had hoped to continue to play more games in the CAHA state playoffs.

Tournament notes:  Though teams keyed on Nash Berkowitz and kept him off the scoreboard, the captain finished the year as the Cougars' leader with 31 goals and 47 points.  In the first 2 games, he won 16 faceoffs (59%).  Tal Horowitz led the team by winning 23 draws in the tourney.  The Cougars' special teams contributed notably in the second game, killing 4 of 5 penalties and scoring on 20% of their man-advantage situations.

NorCal Tournament Results:
3/23/12: 3-1 loss to Santa Rosa Flyers
3/24/12: 2-1 win over eventual champion Santa Clara Blackhawks
3/24/12: 4-0 loss to Capital Thunder